Josh Heupel was triumphant in his return to Oklahoma as Tennessee knocked off the Sooners 25-15 on Saturday night in Norman.
It wasn’t a flashy win but Tennessee leaned on its defense and played things conservatively offensively with both of its starting offensive tackles out.
Following the game, Heupel discussed what winning at his alma mater meant to him, winning in different ways than he traditionally has and much more. Here’s everything Heupel said.
More From RTI: Nico Iamaleava Gives Josh Heupel Game Ball Following Win Over Oklaoma
Opening Statement
“Good win. It’s always hard to come on the road against good football teams. And a great environment tonight. And just thought our defense controlled the line of scrimmage. Played relentless. Really tight coverage early and did a great job getting off the field. Changed the way the game was played. You can tell in the second half, offensively, our game plan changed as far as possessions (and) time. Different than it has probably ever been in my career.
“And special teams were solid. Max (Gilbert) did a great job putting it through the upright and changing the game just as far as possessions. And kickoff cover, solid. Punt return, gave up a little bit more than we wanted to, but all in all a solid night there.
“And offensively, created some big plays at times. Structure changed from them, which anticipated a little bit. Didn’t know exactly what the structure would look like. Gone against him (Brent Venables) enough in my career, kind of expect the unexpected. But we adjusted, got some things going in the first half and we put some points up and then second half played pretty tight, just the way it game was unfolding.
“Great win for the football team. And proud of the way that we approached the week, how we prepared, how we practiced and how hard we played in there.”
On being without Lance Heard and having John Campbell miss time with an injury in the game, how Tennessee handled that adversity at offensive tackle
“All in all, I felt the guys that went in and played and replaced of those guys, played solid tonight. Between the adjustment of our personnel and structure, getting everybody in sync, it took us a little bit in the beginning parts. But they performed well. I look forward to hopefully having both of those guys back here by the time we get back on the field.”
On Tennessee running it eight straight times on the touchdown drive in the second quarter, what that says about this team
“Running the football is our baseline, our bread and butter. It’s how we get started. I thought with the structure changes, the pressures that they were bringing, it took us a little bit of time to get hat on a hat and create some vertical seams. Our backs getting used to the angles of how everything was unfolding. But that drive was big and a couple of the conversions were big later in the football game too.”
On coaching this season after his mother passed
“She was looking forward to this game. She’s got a lot of friends across the state that know that she was looking forward to it. So it was a unique game to come back and have to be a road game for me and this football team, but a home game for a lot of my family.”
On the flexibility it gives him as a play caller to have this type of defense
“Each game unfolds differently but in the first half you could feel the way that we were playing on the defensive side of the football, controlling the line of scrimmage, making it really tough on the quarterback, playing tight coverage on the back end, getting off the field on third downs and as the game went into the second half it changed the way that we played and what type of situations we were going to put Nico in with our personnel changes up front. I mean all those things play into it together and at the end of the day, if you want to play really high level football, you got to have a high level defense. And our guys are playing really well. They’re excited about the way they’re playing but they also know that there’s more out there and it’s been fun seeing this group continue to grow.”
On his thoughts on Oklahoma playing two quarterback
“Yeah, man (Oklahoma OC) Seth (Litrell) is a really good football coach and does a great job with those guys. He’ll be able to find the right guy for them going forward.”
On Nico Iamaleava giving him the game ball
“This game was never about me coming back here. Not for this football team. And I say all that, they also understood that this one was a little bit different for me personally too. But that’s not what it was about. But I do appreciate their recognition of that and wanting that for me.”
On his favorite part of his time back in Oklahoma, outside of the football
“Walking off that field with the win felt pretty good.”
On the significance of the two big pass plays in the first half while the offense was struggling
“As we were figuring out the structure of the fits, two big pass plays that helped create points at the end of the day and some separation on the scoreboard. Two biggest explosive plays and both those guys did a great job getting into the right areas too.”
On how the defense playing this well changes how he handles games
“Well it does change because field position changes the way the game’s played for everybody and what type of position you’re trying to put everybody on your football team. So it changes how the game is played and tonight the game kind of formed its own identity mid second quarter, certainly as a third quarter got started, but each game is different so you have to be ready to play it as it starts unfolding.”
On if this is the most versatile offense he’s ever had
“Most versatile that we’ve been because of our personnel. The trust that we have him in the ability to move guys into different spots and then Nico having a great command and understanding of everything that’s going on gives you that luxury.”
On if he believes he’s evolved as a coach to win with the defense leading the way:
“You look at the steps that our defense has taken, your team forms its own identity each year and it’s my responsibility to put them in a position to play a complete game together, find the best way to win. And tonight, that’s how the game unfold.”
On how he believes the team handled the environment:
“All in all, handled it really well. Freshman quarterback coming into his first, you know, league game on the road, but there’s a couple things that we can clean up as well. But all in all, pretty solid.”
On if there’s a sense of relief that the Oklahoma game is over with
“It meant something to be here, and to play, and to win. Yes, but that’s just not what it was about in coming back here. We got a good football team, got high expectations. They continue to compete extremely hard every day to grow to become better. This was our first road test in the league. Tonight was about this ’24 football team and really proud of how they performed.”
On how many times he’s gotten the game ball as a coach in his career
“It’ll go in the office for sure. There’ve been a couple of them, first win.”
On what it says about the growth of the program to win on the road after overcoming adversity
“Yeah, look at what the defense does, you know, we’re in third down, give up a strip sack off the edge, sudden change (and) they go out, create a turnover, get the ball right back. Through adversity tonight, everybody continued to play and compete and keep playing for each other. Really proud of them. That’s one of the things that we talked about going into this thing. But the defense’s ability to handle sudden-change adversity was a huge part of his football game.”
On the long-term benefit to winning its most physical football game of the season
“I think in this league, you gotta be able to win different ways as the season unfolds. Each game is different. Each opponent, matchups, all of that. We need to be the most physical football team on the field every Saturday.”
On how big it is to have the bye week where it is and how important it is to get healthy over the next two weeks
“We talked about starting off fast (this) season and we’ve done that. We got some guys that gotta get healthy, but as a football team next week, we gotta continue to grow and get better. The areas where we’re not playing to the level that we’re capable of, those things show up as you go on and we gotta continue to get better at those things. So get some guys healthy, have some really good practices and get ready for the next one.”
